The invention relates to power-driven conveyors generally and, more specifically, to conveyors constructed of modular plastic conveyor belts with embedded article-supporting rollers.
Conveyor belts with article-supporting rollers that extend through the thickness of the belt are used in the material-handling industry to accelerate, divert, sort, merge, and otherwise move articles along and across a moving conveyor belt. The rollers are arranged to rotate in line with or perpendicular or oblique to the direction of belt travel. When the peripheries of the rollers extending past the bottom of the conveyor belt are engaged by a bearing surface as the belt advances, the rollers ride on the bearing surfaces and rotate to push articles being conveyed atop the rollers in a selected direction. Examples of conveyors using belts of this kind are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,494,312; 6,968,941; and 7,461,739.
In some cases, however, it may be preferable not to have the belt rollers define the bottom-most extent of the belt. For example, during assembly of a belt of this kind on a table, the belt can roll on its rollers. Unless blocked from rolling by some fixture or retainer, the belt can be difficult to assemble.